Babar Azam Named ODI Captain

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) named batsman Babar Azam the new one day international (ODI) cricket captain of the national team on Wednesday.

The PCB made the disclosure while announcing its list of centrally contracted players.

In its press release, the PCB confirmed that the Test and T20I captaincy will continue to be held by Azhar Ali and Azam respectively, while also adding that the latter will also lead the side in the 50-over format.

“I want to congratulate Azhar Ali and Babar Azam for getting captaincy extensions. This is absolutely the right decision as they also require certainty and clarity on their future roles,” said head coach Misbah-ul-Haq.

“I am sure they will now start looking to the future and start planning so that they can build sides that can perform at the expected levels.”

The ODI captaincy’s status had been unclear since last year when Sarfaraz Ahmed was sacked. Due to no ODIs scheduled for the remainder of the season, the captaincy had been in a limbo until today’s clarification.